Annual Conference Between Messirya And Dinka Malual To Kick Off Tomorrow

A delegation from the Sudanese border tribe of Messirya and South Sudan’s Dinka Malual of Northern Bahr el Ghazal have arrived Wany-jok town of Aweil East State to hold the annual conference on seasonal cattle migration between the two borders.

06 March 2017

By Agoth Abraham
AWEIL, March 06, 2017 [Gurtong] - The delegation from both comprises of over 300 representatives, Chiefs and border peace committee members.

The conference will be facilitated by William Kolong Pioth, the Coordinator for South Sudan Peace and Reconciliation Commission, joint border peace committee members, local government officials and other community leaders, who may help in reviewing last year’s resolutions and reflect on the lessons learned from last year’s migration.

The conference is expected to resolve any pending cases that have the potential of escalating tensions and new resolutions covering all the different aspects of 2017-18 dry season cattle migration be discussed and agreed upon by both sides.

Operational and technical support for the event will be provided by VISTAS – USAID program which aims to increase stability along the Sudan-South Sudan border by re-affirming the positive social, economic and political linkages forged between Dinka Malual of NBeG and the pastoralists (Rezeigat & Missyria) of East Darfur during peaceful cattle migrations.

Each dry season (January – June) thousands of Rezeigat and Messirya cattle along with pastoralist families cross River Kiir into Aweil North, Aweil West and Aweil Center Counties in search of water and pastures. USAID has been supporting these meetings since 2012.